Substance created the titles for Node2018 to explore the idea of connection, through a cinematic narrative. We developed the tagline: “Explore, Connect, Create” as a summary of what Node meant to us, and described this visually through the journey of the Explorer. Each stage of the unidentified pioneer’s odyssey is[…]

Two strangers trying to avoid the crowd at a wedding reception end up making an unexpected connection. Hitting it off with someone doesn’t usually happen in a snappy scene, it’s rather often an up and down ramble of awkward conversations that culminate into a spark of common interests. Joe Gillette’s[…]

Left behind by the same loved one, two Asian American youth search for connection in their small Midwestern town. Director’s Statement The story was based on my experience trying to fit in when I was young, and I threw a friend of mine under the bus during some lunch table[…]

Sam likes to keep his options open, stomping all over the line between hopeless and romantic. The online world offers a dizzying array of possible hookups and dalliance, but running late and double booked will Sam ever make a connection amongst such pixelated perfection? Maybe he should have just stayed[…]

After one girl drops her phone in the toilet, she must work to get it back on so she doesn’t lose the connection of a lifetime. Director’s Statement I made this to heighten the idea that we put so much pressure on obtaining a potential partner and as a result[…]

We follow Eden, a freelance animator and grieving daughter, who refuses to accept the death of her mother. Eden’s coping mechanism is to submerge herself underwater, where she believes she is still connected to her. In reality, refusing to accept her depression or help from her childhood friend Miles. Eden[…]

Two people walking in the street lit by the neon lights of the restaurants and shops, bump into each other. Time stands still, an immediately powerful connection is shared between them. Strangers deeply in love shared only in a stare so piercing there is no need for words. In this[…]

In a rapidly changing city, a woman realizes she no longer recognizes the neighborhood she calls home. When a young man approaches her with a direct connection to her past, she is forced to ask: When do we hold on to our past, and when is it time to let[…]